Vincent Valentine looked up at the fading night, blinking his eyes slowly. Cloud's golden chocobo was cawing softly and yanking on a few strands of his black hair.

"What happened? Tifa!" he stood abruptly, staring around. The area around them–which had been a deep, tropical forest–was now a barren, empty field. He looked around, and on the ground on his left and saw the dead figure of the soldier, Zeo. He also saw that the boy's spinal chord had been ripped painfully from his body. Vincent winced and backed away; his foot kicked something. He looked down and spotted one of Tifa's Premium Heart gloves. Vincent bent over and scooped it up, a rejuvenating feeling spreading from his hand and over his body. It had been she whom had brought him back to life, that much he was sure of. But who else had survived?
Kinto made a distressed noise and took the glove out of his hands, chewing on it affectionately. The PHS device on his hip crackled and Cid Highwind's panicked voice cried out from the speaker.
"Vince! Yo, Vince, answer me! Tifa! Zeo!"
Vincent unhooked it from his belt and raised it to his mouth: "Cid? It's Vincent."
"Vince! Oh, thank Christ I got a hold of ya! Listen, were you fighting Sith's clone?"
"Yes, why?"
"Cause ya killed the real one, moron!" he hollered over the speaker.
"I didn't kill him. I think it was Tifa–but now the clones have her," Vincent replied, and Kinto warked.
"Her too! Right before the cat kicked it, Cloud was hauled off by the Barret and Tifa wannabe's."
"Tifa said the clones killed Hojo."
"For real!" Cid cried.
"This is getting extremely serious," Vincent sighed. "We have to regroup."
"My thoughts exactly! Come to Midgar–I think it's closer to you anyhow."
"You're in Midgar?"
"Heading there now with Cait Sith number three."
The voice on the PHS suddenly changed:
"Vincent? It's Cait Sith! Some really bad stuff is happening! You'd better get over to Midgar now!"
"Is the other kid with you?" Cid's voice returned to the speaker.
"No–they killed him too."
"Then Tifa's–!"
"No. She brought me back to life right before they took her."
"...this is getting too weird for me. See you in Midgar, Vince."
"Bye!" the cat yelled from the background, and the PHS turned off. Vincent shook his head and attached the device back to his belt.
"Why do I stay with this group of nutcases?" he rolled his eyes and turned to Kinto. The golden bird immediately knelt and lowered his neck so Vincent could climb on. He guided the bird to what he hoped was north– and towards Midgar–then urged it into a run.

Red XIII snarled as the Keeper's tail came whipping toward him and Yuffie. She whimpered, doubled over on her knees, clutching weakly at an elixir bottle. Barret leapt in front of them and took the force of the swing. He was flung hard against the rock wall, screaming as something snapped. Yuffie grunted and tried to stand.
"Barret...!"
"Look out!" Nanaki tackled her. She hit the floor, crying out as the pain in her body exploded in a bright flare. She heard the creature whimper and slowly turned her head to see him lying to her right, twitching feebly. The Elemental Keeper loomed over Red, clicking its scorpion-like claws hungrily. Yuffie moaned, returning her bleary gaze to the ceiling of the cave.
"If...it's this hard to beat...think of the materia it could be guarding..."
She quickly gulped the elixir. It tasted warm and ice cold; a bittersweet tinge stuck to the roof of her mouth as she stood, feeling her strength rush into her.
"Yuffie!" Barret appeared beside her, holding onto his gun arm.
"Hey, Barret!" she chirped and tossed a potion at him.
"You're yeh usual perky self," he commented, gulping down the small vial then smacking his lips as he shot the large purplish creature in the eye. It squealed, turning away from Nanaki and lumbering toward them.
"As always–wherever there's materia, I'm ready!"
"Nah...this ain't materia. It's guardin' somethin' else."
"Like what!"
"Just go help Red; I've got it."
"But Barret–"
"I've got it! Get goin'!"
Yuffie mumbled something and went to assist the wounded animal. She looked over her shoulder as she knelt beside the orange-red animal, and saw Barret powering up for his Catastrophe Limit Break. She fished an X-potion from her pocket and pored it down Red's half-gaping mouth. He sputtered, wrinkling his snout and blinking his good eye slowly.

"Yuffie?"
"Hi, Red," she smiled.
"Where's Barret?"
They both winced and ducked low to avoid the sonic blast which followed Barret's attack.
"Back there," Yuffie jerked a thumb over her shoulder. Red XIII peered around her.
"Barret?"
The dark man turned at the sound of his name and flashed them a thumbs-up.
"We won."
The other two stood and walked over to him. They looked down at the sprawled corpse, then past it, at the large blue box that sat way back in the recesses of the chamber. Barret was the first to move. He stepped over one of the Elemental Keeper's sprawled legs and knelt before the chest. There was a sharp click and the lid popped up. Barret pulled out a small satchel.
"Element Break."
Then he looked down and blinked. He reached in again and came up with a set of gloves, and a medium-sized golden sphere.
"Telekinetic Gloves."
He pulled out something else; another set of gloves, but with glittering claws and tips.
"Prism Gauntlets."
And he reached down a fourth time and picked up a clear glass materia.
"Some sort of materia."
"That's a lot of stuff," Red blinked.
"Ooh! Gimmie!" Yuffie cried, lunging for the odd sphere. Barret held it up above his head, away from her.
"No. Notin' is touched 'til we get back to the others."
"Man..." she pouted. Barret put the weapons and materia away, then opened the satchel for the Elemental Break. A white gleam spread from the mouth of the bag and surrounded Barret. He blinked, then grinned, tossing the now empty leather pouch aside.
"A new Limit Break."
"Huh!" Yuffie cried.
The PHS in Barret's possession suddenly crackled rudely, making them all jump. He grabbed it.
"Ya' scared us half 'ta death!" he shouted.
"Sorry," Cait Sith replied meekly form the other end.
"Wha'cha want, cat?"
"Um...Cid and Vincent say we're meeting up in Midgar."
"Midgar!" Yuffie yelped.
"Why, Cait Sith? What's wrong?" Red asked.
"Cloud and Tifa are missing, and Hojo's dead."
"WHAT!" the three in the cave chimed.
"Uh-huh," Cait Sith meowed. "Vincent said the white-haired kid was killed in a fight with the clones, and they took Tifa away. He also said that one of the clones told them they had killed Hojo. Me, Cid, and Cloud were in a cave when another set of clones came and kidnaped him."
"They kidnaped Cloud an' Tifa!" Barret almost roared.
"Yeah," Cait Sith answered.
"Hojo's dead!" Yuffie gaped at the PHS device.
"Yeah," he repeated.
"Is everyone else alright!" Nanaki cried.
"Yeah! We're just making our way toward Midgar."
"We'll head there now," Barret answered, walking back to the entrance of the cave. Red XIII followed and Yuffie raced after them both.
"Then we'll see you in a bit. Bye!" Cait Sith chirped and the machine clicked off. Barret tucked it back into his pocket and glanced at the others.
"Cloud, Tifa, an' Hojo! I don' believe it!"

"The clones were really worked up about capturing Tifa, but I didn't know they were after Cloud too," Red answered, "or the scientist for that matter." He trotted out into the afternoon sunlight after the man. Yuffie darted halfway down the path, turned, and hollered back up at them.
"Serves them right! If it were me, I wouldn't let some stupid clones take me!"
"Who'd wanna kidnap a snotnosed brat like yeh, anyhow?" Barret retorted. Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him and raced down the rest of the trail. Barret and Nanaki shook their heads, following her quickly.